Tagged: James “Skip” Sullivan

Our client was found by City of Monroe Police asleep in the driver’s seat of a vehicle parked in front of an entrance to a night club with the engine running. The Monroe officer conducted a DUI investigation, where our client did everything that was asked of him, including field sobriety evaluations. Our client even agreed after arrest for his DUI in the City of Monroe to submit to a breath test. The breath test result was .175. The legal limit in Georgia is .08. The encounter between the Monroe police and our client was respectful on both sides. Mr. Sullivan was able to persuade the prosecution that they would have a difficult time trying to prove an essential element of a DUI charge that our client moved the vehicle at some point while in an impaired condition or that the breath test was conducted within three hours of when driving ended. There was still a possibility that the prosecution could have made there case, however Mr. Sullivan was able to negotiate an outright dismissal if our completed some terms, which our client happily did. Monroe DUI charge dismissed.

Our client was observed by Smyrna Police failing to maintain his lane and touching the double yellow line several times while driving. the Smyrna DUI officer initiated a traffic stop and began a DUI investigation after he smelled alcohol. Client agreed to perform field sobriety evaluations and performed less than stellar on the walk and turn evaluation, but looked good on the one leg stand evaluation. He refused a portable alcosensor. Client also made some incriminating statements after he was arrested for his Smyrna DUI. Mr. Sullivan was able to avoid an administrative license suspension for our client and was able to successfully negotiate a dismissal of the DUI charge in exchange for a plea to Reckless Driving.

Our client hired Mr. Sullivan before the police reached out to interview him in regard to a hit and run in a parking lot at a hotel in Cobb County. There was also evidence of a possible DUI charge. When the Cobb County Police Department’s specialized unit that deals with Hit and Run cases contacted our client, our client did not provide a statement and directed them to Mr. Sullivan. Due to the facts of this case, Mr. Sullivan advised his client that he was not going to make any statements, let alone meet with the investigator. Nor would our client make any statements to the insurance company until the potential criminal case was resolved. Mr. Sullivan acted as the intermediary between his client and the insurance company and provided just enough information to allow the claim to the other party be paid without exposing our client to make a statement that might incriminate himself. We provided the investigator insurance information and only disclosed that our client was the owner of the vehicle involved in the collision. The police would have that information from the tag number provided to the police by a caller the night of the collision. Mr. Sullivan agreed also to provide insurance information for the other party whose vehicle was struck. Because of this strategy, the investigator was unable to put our client behind the wheel as the driver, thus could not bring charges of Hit and Run or DUI. We provided the investigator information that our client’s insurance paid the claim and the investigator closed the case with no criminal charges ever being filed.

Our Roswell client was behind the wheel in the parking lot of a hotel he was staying at. He was asleep behind the wheel with some evidence of spittle on his pants that the Roswell DUI officers mistook for some other bodily fluid…. The Roswell police were altered to our client’s car when he fell asleep and his head laid on the horn. When they arrived they also noticed that his car was not aligned in the parking space. Client admitted to being at a sports bar earlier and wanted to sober up before he went inside to his family. After performing field sobriety evaluations, he was arrested and charge with a DUI in Roswell. He agreed to take the official breath test and the result was .096 (the legal limit in Georgia is .08). After negotiations did not achieve a non-DUI resolution in Roswell Municipal Court, Mr. Sullivan sent the case to Fulton County State Court and strategically filed a Constitutional Speedy Trial Demand. When the case was finally filed in state court and brought to a hearing, Mr. Sullivan argued effectively that a delay of more than two years to bring the case to trial harmed his client and argued for a dismissal based on our client’s right to a speedy trial. The Fulton County State Court trial judge agreed and dismissed the case.

Our client was stopped by Lilburn Police for travelling 61 mph in a 40 mph zone. She also had her brights on. Our client agreed to perform field sobriety evaluations and based upon the results of the evaluations, she was arrested for DUI in Lilburn. She refused to submit to the state administered breath test and faced a one year license suspension of her driving privileges due to the refusal. Mr. Sullivan was able to navigate the administrative license suspension action while the DUI case was pending in Lilburn Municipal Court. Mr. Sullivan was able to negotiate a dismissal of the DUI charge in exchange to a plea of Reckless Driving and

In a must win case, Skip Sullivan and Bob Chestney were able to avoid an administrative license suspension for our CDL holder while his DUI case was pending and got a Not Guilty verdict from a judge in Fulton County State Court. Our client was asleep in his vehicle alongside a roadway in Sandy Springs. While on patrol, a Sandy Springs police officer came upon our client’s vehicle parked on the side of the road with the two driver’s side tires over the solid while fog line. Our client was asleep in the back seat of his car with throw up in the back of the car as well as outside on a door handle and on the ground. Once awoken and out of his car, client was very disoriented and showed visible signs of impairment. During the course of the investigation, the Sandy Springs officer had client sit back in his car. Client then proceeded to start up his car and revved the engine multiple times. The officer then turned off the car, grabbed the keys and got the client out of the car. As Sandy Springs DUI officer was called to the scene to assist in the DUI investigation. After performing field sobriety, client was arrested for DUI in Sandy Springs, Improper Parking, and Failure to Change Address within 60 days. At trail, Mr. Sullivan crossed examined the officers on their observations and argued the the judge that the prosecution had not met its burden of proving that defendant moved his vehicle at any point and if the prosecution was able to prove that the vehicle moved at some point, the prosecution had no evidence whether client was impaired at the time the vehicle was parked at that location. The Fulton County State Court judge agreed and found our client Not Guilty of DUI, Not Guilty of Failing to Change Address within 60 Days, but Guilty of the Improper Parking charge (Georgia DDS assesses no points for this offense). Client was able to save his Georgia CDL and his career.

Our client ran a red light in Atlanta and struck another vehicle. Atlanta Police responded to investigate. Our client admitted to drinking and after an investigation, was arrested for DUI in Atlanta. He agree to take the state’s breath test at the jail, but after an unexplained two hour delay, his alcohol level dropped to a .077. The Fulton County State Court prosecution had the ability to present evidence that our client was over .o8 at the time of driving as well as being DUI less safe. Mr. Sullivan was able to persuade the prosecution that they would still have a difficult time proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The Atlanta DUI and Red Light charges were dismissed in exchange for a negotiated plea to Reckless Driving.

Our client was clocked doing 92 in a 65 mph zone on Georgia 400 south by Roswell Police. The Roswell police officer attempted to catch up to our client to initiate a traffic stop. Our client took a quick turn onto a side street and ran through a stop sign while the officer was pursuing him with his emergency equipment on. Client eventually stopped and was placed in an investigatory detention and charged with speeding, fleeing and attempting to elude, and reckless driving. Fleeing and attempting to elude carries a very harsh statutory mandatory minimum penalty of 10 days in jail. Mr. Sullivan was able to convince the prosecutor in Roswell that this particular case did not warrant the prosecutor pursuing the fleeing and attempting to elude charge or the speeding charge (a 4 point offense) and negotiated a plea to only the reckless driving charge, avoiding jail time for our client.

A concerned citizen was following our client and called in to Georgia State Patrol that our client was failing to keep the vehicle in a single lane. A Georgia State Trooper spotted our client’s vehicle and also noticed it failing to maintain the vehicle within the lane. The trooper initiated a traffic stop in Covington, Georgia and after a brief conversation, allowed our client to drive off. The Trooper then saw our client drive off onto the shoulder of the road and stopped the vehicle again. A DUI investigation began, where our client performed field sobriety evaluations and tested high on a portable alcosensor (almost twice the legal limit). Our client was subsequently arrested for a DUI in Covington. Mr. Sullivan was able to convince the prosecutor that the client performed well enough on field sobriety evaluations that a jury might not convict on the DUI charge. The prosecutor agreed and a plea to reckless driving was negotiated.

Our client was charges with a Cobb County DUI after being stopped for failing to maintain his lane. Marietta Police conducted an investigation for DUI where our client agreed to submit to field sobriety evaluations. Our client was subsequently arrested for DUI and took the state breath rest with a result of .173. The case began in Marietta Municipal Court, but the Marietta DUI charge was sent over to Cobb County State Court to preserve our client’s right to a jury trial. Mr. Sullivan conducted a motions hearing to exclude the .173 breath test from being admissible at trial. While the judge was deciding the motions, Mr. Sullivan was able to persuade the prosecutor that the test would be inadmissible at trial. Subsequently, Mr. Sullivan negotiated with the prosecutor to dismiss the Cobb DUI charge and our client enter a plea to reckless driving.

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